As everyone closed their eyes, Sonata began to flicker, altering the lighting inside the smithy with each pulse of light. The silvery blood of the Skulking Angel seeped inside the half-transformed scarf and fused with it. A burst of mana and Eion energy almost made the trio stagger and before they knew it, everything calmed down and the noise stopped.

“It should be over… you can open your eyes now,” Old Wang said.

Rakna promptly checked on Sonata and what he saw surprised him. The form change had been completed in the process and it was now a Guandao that was sitting on the table. But it was longer and slightly thicker than before.

The coloring was paler and there was a silver engraving of a wing on both sides of the blade. The ribbon tied around the shaft had a silver sheen and was a bit longer as well.

Old Wang whistled. “That is a beautiful glaive.”

Rakna nodded and walked to it. He grabbed it and he instantly felt a tingle traverse his entire arm as if he had just claimed a part of himself. He quickly looked at its details and the first thing he saw was that the name had changed.

❮ ◈ ❯

Designation: Blade/Guandao

Name: Skulking Sonata

Rarity: Purple

Attack power: +400

Durability: 100% | Indestructible

Perks:

- Intertwined Miniature Eion Systems: The item possesses memory of form and is able to switch from one form to another. Currently available: Scarf, Guandao, Bow, Kusarigama, Twin Daggers, Greatsword.

- Eion Energy Production

- Demonic Spiritual Anchor

- Gale Outbreak (All forms)

- Hyper Mana Oscillation Blade (Bladed forms)

- Blood Rage (All forms)

- Primal Curse – First Stage: This weapon has gained some level of curses from the evolutions it went through. It will inflict severe injuries to non-authorized wielders and the more the weapon is wielded, the more it will become altered to match its wielder.

It has reached the stage of Unification. The primary wielder, Rakna Xiorra, can now accurately control every movement of his weapon through his mind with no additional cost.

- Skulking Wraith: When the weapon is not being looked at by anyone else other than allowed wielders, the resulting attack value doubles and the wielder becomes 50% swifter.

When it is being looked at, the item becomes unbreakable, it disperses a certain percentage of magic damage proportional to the maximum physical attack value, and the wielder becomes 20% more resistant.

- Skulk Life Down (Bladed forms): A slash that ignores defense, spatial interference, temporal interference, magic defense, and distance.

Cooldown: 12 Hours.

Description:

A masterpiece forged by a master blacksmith, the Earth conqueror himself, with the technology of an advanced civilization.

It was given to Rakna Xiorra as a gift by the one who bears the name of Blade.

Note: Evolvable

---

Skulking Sonata’s structure has been improved. The new stability allows for a double evolution for the consequent milestones.

Current Requirements:

- Any weapon with a rarity of Orange or higher.

- Host Level 70.

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna took some time to admire the new appearance as well as to read the new perks. He looked at the glaive up and down before whirling it with one hand. He closed his eyes and let go.

The spin’s momentum hurled the weapon toward the wall but right before it touched anything, it came to a stop and hovered mid-air. It then rotated and flew across the smithy whilst staying close to the walls, floor, and ceiling without damaging anything. It spun on its own and turned into twin daggers with wings engraved on the blades.

They gyrated and distanced from one another. But as if attracted by each other, they eventually returned and clashed, triggering a second transformation. The daggers merged and reverted to an azure scarf that had a brand-new wing mark outlined by silver and red.

The cloth swayed back and forth a few times and zoomed toward Rakna. It coiled around him like a serpent and ultimately settled around his neck as usual. It was only then that he opened his eyes and looked at it as Pronos burrowed himself under it. He once again made a faint smile that Evelyn didn’t fail to notice.

‘That’s the second time today… did something happen…?’ She wondered.

“I’d honestly be surprised if you didn’t have a ‘Show Off’ title,” Old Wand joked. “But please do not play around with your weapon in my smithy again.”

“Sorry about that,” Rakna apologized and his expression returned to a taciturn state. “Thank you for this. You said you were not able to improve it, but you did exactly that and more than I could have ever expected,” he said sincerely. He had glossed over the Skulk Life Down perk. You would need to be an idiot to not realize how formidable it was.

“Don’t sweat it,” the old dwarf waved his hand. “It’s thanks to the material you brought, as well as the genius of your uncle. Ah, and in case you ask, don’t get any ideas. We can’t do this again. Not only do I need to let my psyranium charge again, but overloads are risky if abused. We don’t want your weapon to be irremediably damaged now, do we?”

“Definitely not.”

“Now, let’s see what was the result of our original goal,” Wang followed up and approached the necklace he had prepared to be coated in the blood. When he looked inside the cast, the necklace had a slightly rugged look.

It was grayish all around and the gems on it only managed to make it faintly vivacious. It almost looked like someone had turned a simple rock into a piece of jewelry. But from the perspective of uniqueness, it was quite a fascinating accessory.

❮ ◈ ❯

Designation: Special Item/Necklace

Name: Sonata’s Tear

Rarity: Blue

Durability: 100% | Indestructible

Description:

A byproduct linked through space and time to the item known as Skulking Sonata. It cannot be used by anyone other than Evelyn J. Malcanthet and Rakna Xiorra.

Perks:

- Skulking Shadow: When not seen, the wearer becomes 10% swifter. When seen, the wearer gains 5% to defense and the item becomes indestructible.

- Demonic Spiritual Anchor: Item bound to Evelyn J. Malcanthet. It can sustain her form in a radius of a hundred meters. She will also be granted a 20% boost in both DP and MP as long as she wears it.

Note: Special Class Items do not take accessory slots.

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna picked the necklace up after reading the information. “This one’s a success as well,” he said and Old Wang nodded.

“Good to know we didn’t waste that blood.”

The therian agreed silently and motioned Evelyn to turn around.

“Eh?” She took a moment to process what he was asking and as her face grew redder, she did what he said and also moved her hair from over her neck.

Wang watched amused as Rakna carefully put the necklace around the succubus’ neck, who was feeling nothing but bashfulness.

“Done,” Rakna said after clipping the chain.

She let go of her hair and looked down at the necklace. She fiddled with it a bit and smiled. “Thank you,” she said quietly but she knew he could hear her.

“Well, as adorable as this is, I should get back to my stall,” Wang said as he started tidying up his smithy. “I don’t want to disappoint my regulars too much.”

“Got it. Thank you for your help.”

“It’s fine. You also helped me finding a path to break through to the Divine level. It’s the least I can do. And my offer to give you one of my works when I advance my proficiency still stands. I’ll reach it sooner or later.”

“I’ll expect it,” Rakna responded. “We’ll get out of your hair now. See you, Master.”

“Goodbye sir,” Evelyn bowed and followed Rakna as he headed to the stairs.

“Have a good day, you two!”

* * *

After coming out, Evelyn decided to return to the apartment to practice her alchemy while Rakna opened up his friend list to message someone.

❮ ◈ ❯

> Hey, foxy, is there a specific time I should be visiting?

You’re quite an early bird, eh? You don’t lose time.

> Just tell me already.

I’ll go wake up mom right now. She isn’t really busy despite being the matriarch. She’s quite lazy on top of that so she just sleeps half of the time. The only problem will be for her to completely wake up, so… let’s give her about two hours. See you then.

> …who needs two hours to wake up?

:-P

❮ ◈ ❯

Rakna snickered and closed the window.

“{You’re being quite expressive today,}” Higure finally remarked.

‘What? Something wrong with it?’

“{No… I quite like it.}”

‘All good then,’ Rakna replied candidly and mused on what he should do. Truthfully, he had a good number of things to do. There were many skills he could level up and test out. He could train his body, read a few books, go out and look for Quests, and even develop new spells or abilities.

“{It is honestly mind-boggling how much you have to do at this stage already,}” Fray said. “{Is this what they call the misfortunes of talent? …no jab intended at your karma.}”

Rakna rolled his eyes. ‘You know what? Let’s do this effectively. I will go do some quests to test my skills against monsters while you two read and explain to me a few important topics like magic circles and general knowledge.’

“{That is certainly productive.}”

‘All right then. Let’s see what we can do,’ he thought and flew off to the Pavilion.